Pajaro Valley Community Health Tr

Health collaboratives: - advocacy & leadership - the health trust fosters a healthy and equitable community for all in the pajaro valley through leadership in advocacy, collaboration, and wellness. We build, sustain, and leverage partnerships with the community and peer nonprofits in santa cruz, monterey, and san benito county. We convene the pajaro valley food, farming & health policy council, a cross-sector group working to create a local environment where the healthy choice is the easy choice for every resident. We are an active contributor of the south santa cruz county triage, a collective of community leaders implementing collaborative and equitable solutions to address all the needs of pajaro valley from economic to health. We are also a member of the health improvement partnership of santa cruz county, a roundtable of healthcare leaders implementing collaborative solutions to priority issues affecting health equity and outcomes. Farmer's market & veggie rx - the health trust operates the el mercado (farmer's market) and the veggie rx program. The el mercado is a health-focused certified farmer's market aimed at reducing food insecurity and chronic illness by promoting access to fresh produce and wellness resources. The el mercado services 250 - 350 individuals per market and provides supplemental nutrition programs, like ebt, calfresh, and cht's veggie rx program. The veggie rx produce prescription program provides local residents who are medi-cal recipients, have a diet-related illness, and are facing food insecurity with a weekly $20 voucher for fresh produce and health-conscious recipes. Veggie rx has serviced over 400 participants.grant making - the health trust provided 14 local organizations promoting wellness and equity for $210,000 for their projects. These grant funds not only promoted wellness, but strengthened nonprofit organizations that provide oral, physical, and mental health care for those facing the greatest obstacles to care. We also distributed $39,000 in scholarship funds for local high school students and $42,000 to cabrillo college students pursuing health and human services careers.

Community gardens - the health trust operates the community garden. The community garden is where individuals and families enjoy hands-on learning about healthy eating and plant cultivation and are empowered to improve their own health through increased access to fresh produce they grow and harvest in the garden.